Awards

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

In 1996, Joe Sacco won the American Book Award for his groundbreaking work Palestine, a first-person journalistic account of the situation in the occupied territories, told in comics form. Naseer H. Aruri, Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, wrote, "Sacco brilliantly and poignantly captures the essence of life under a repressive and prolonged occupation. Each page is equivalent to an essay on one of the many aspects of the occupation....His material is presented with a great deal of skill, insight and compassion." Entertainment Weekly wrote, "It figures that one of the first books to make sense of this mess would be a comic book."

Safe Area Gorazde is the long-awaited follow-up to Palestine, a 240-page look at war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity, or running water.

Sacco published a short story prefacing Gorazde in 1997 titled "Christmas with Karadzic," which prompted a page-four story in The New York Times about Sacco's coverage of the war, referring to Sacco's journalism as "a searing and amusing look at the motley collection of reporters, war profiteers, criminals, soldiers, and hapless civilians trapped in a war zone....Sacco's drawings are stark, realistic visions of the gray, depressing world of a land mangled by artillery shells and deformed by poverty."

As Men's Journal wrote in late 1998, "Not since 1992, when Art Spiegelman won the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for narrative cartooning with Maus, has anyone from the demimonde of comics portrayed the effects of war so intimately or powerfully." Spiegelman concurred, and as an editor at Details, commissioned the cartoon journalist to cover first-hand the Bosnian war-crimes tribunal in the Hague (a subsequent story featuring Sacco's first-hand report of touring with R.L. Burnside, one of the great living Mississippi bluesmen, was published in Details' March 2000 issue). "Sacco's at the vanguard," says Spiegelman. "He got training as a journalist — a good one, and he knows how to distill and communicate. He's obviously got the calling."

Safe Area Gorazde is Sacco's magnum opus, and with it he is poised to become one of America's most noted journalists. The book features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

Review:

"Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95 could serve as a first step towards reclaiming the basic facts of the 20th Century's last important war....Sacco masterfully reminds us that war is about constant change and unexpected loss. In doing so, he achieves effects with mood that would be lost to anyone except the finest prose novelist. Even then, it would be almost impossible to match Sacco's economy....But forgetting the form, and leaving behind the pop sensibility which will no doubt drive the majority of attention this book receives, Safe Area Gorazde impresses because of the delicate, tragicomic sensibility of its author." Tom Spurgeon, The Portland Mercury

Review:

"In a world where Photoshop has outed the photograph to be a liar, one can now allow artists to return to their original function — as reporters..." Art Spiegelman, author of Maus and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Review:

"Sacco's drawings are simply wonderful, combining great facility and compositional invention with a fluid line and a gift for the economical use of intensive linear detail. There is nothing else quite like this." Publisher's Weekly

Review:

"Safe Area Gorazde brings journalism and comics together in an unforgettable portrait of the war in Bosnia. Sacco's detailed, realistic drawing style provides the pictures that had previously only resided in people's memories. At last we meet the complicated human beings, whose personal history is really the only one that matters, behind the 'Balkan Crisis.'" Andrew D. Arnold, Time

Review:

"[U]nflinching....Atrocities abound in this chronicle. Reading it, I often found myself so sick to my stomach I could not continue....Sacco does not sensationalize these incidents. His depictions are restrained and matter-of-fact. Both his words and his drawings are kept simple and straightforward. Sacco respects the power of the material itself. He knows it needs no embellishment....This comics reportage of the Bosnian experience delivers to readers a perspective and texture no other journalistic form could have captured. The illusion of time and movement created by the sequential panels of comics gives the material an earthy immediacy that prose could never achieve as well....By choosing comics to tell this story, Sacco has allowed readers to experience Gorazde with a visceral reality no other medium can match." Claude Lalumière, January magazine

Review:

"Harrowing and bleakly humorous, Sacco's account of life during the Balkan conflict is a timeless portrait of ordinary people caught in desperate circumstances. It's also a work of genius in an unlikely genre." The Utne Reader

Review:

"It is difficult to look away from and impossible to forget." Publishers Weekly

Review:

"Who would have imagined that the best dramatic evocation of the Bosnian catastrophe would turn out to be a book-length comic strip?...But Sacco's book not only has dramatic force. More crucially, it has the emblematic quality of a good historical or political novel." David Rieff, New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Sacco can invest his stories with an incredible intensity that's simply impossible to capture with any other form." Speak

Synopsis:

A landmark work of New Journalism is now available in softcover.

Safe Area Gorazde is Joe Sacco's 240-page opus about the war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity, or running water.

The hardcover edition of Safe Area Gorazde put Sacco on the map as one of the pre-eminent journalists of his time, and the softcover edition will present his work to a wider audience. The book has been prominently featured in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Utne Reader, Spin, The London Times, The Washington Post, Brill's Content, several NPR programs, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, and other media. The book also led to Sacco being named a recipient of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Safe Area Gorazde features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

Synopsis:

The winner of the 2001 Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Album. Sacco spent five months in Bosnia in 1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage, emerging with this astonishing first-person account.

Synopsis:

Synopsis:

Praised by , and , is the long-awaited and highly sought after 240-page look at war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco (the critically-acclaimed author of ) spent five months in Bosnia in 1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim-held enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco lived for a month in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water. is Sacco's magnum opus and with it he is poised too become one of America's most noted journalists. The book features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for and .

Synopsis:

In the wake of his acclaimed Palestine, Joe Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war; Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water.

Released in 2000, Safe Area Gorazdeconfirmed Sacco as one of the preeminent journalists of his time, and earned him a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Now for its 10th anniversary, Fantagraphics is releasing an expanded hardcover edition which, much like 2007’s Palestine: The Special Edition, supplements the original work with page after page of related drawings, on-site sketches, photographs, and transcripts from Sacco’s notes.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Average customer rating based on 1 comment:

crowyhead, August 29, 2006 (view all comments by crowyhead)
I think this may be one of the most moving and gut-wrenching books about war that I've ever read. I'm not sure why it made so much more of an impact on me than all of the other books of war journalism I've read over the years. There's something about it that just really gets under your skin. Maybe it's that Sacco can show us these people -- not just tell us what they looked like, but actually draw them as they look when they are most vulnerable or most ugly and violent. The plight of the denizens of Gorazde really got to me; I found myself walking home from work turning the story over in my mind. I think what hit me, which had never hit me before so much, was the realization that these were people who lived lives very much like mine: they went to school, they came home and watched TV and hung out with their neighbors and went to clubs. And then, in a matter of months, people from the city were freezing to death trying to walk to find food. The neighbors that they shared food with were killing each other. It really shook me up, the idea that life could go so quickly from peace and normality to something so horrific.

Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No(7 of 13 readers found this comment helpful)

"Review"
by Tom Spurgeon, The Portland Mercury,
"Safe Area Gorazde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992-95 could serve as a first step towards reclaiming the basic facts of the 20th Century's last important war....Sacco masterfully reminds us that war is about constant change and unexpected loss. In doing so, he achieves effects with mood that would be lost to anyone except the finest prose novelist. Even then, it would be almost impossible to match Sacco's economy....But forgetting the form, and leaving behind the pop sensibility which will no doubt drive the majority of attention this book receives, Safe Area Gorazde impresses because of the delicate, tragicomic sensibility of its author."

"Review"
by Art Spiegelman, author of Maus and winner of the Pulitzer Prize,
"In a world where Photoshop has outed the photograph to be a liar, one can now allow artists to return to their original function — as reporters..."

"Review"
by Publisher's Weekly,
"Sacco's drawings are simply wonderful, combining great facility and compositional invention with a fluid line and a gift for the economical use of intensive linear detail. There is nothing else quite like this."

"Review"
by Andrew D. Arnold, Time,
"Safe Area Gorazde brings journalism and comics together in an unforgettable portrait of the war in Bosnia. Sacco's detailed, realistic drawing style provides the pictures that had previously only resided in people's memories. At last we meet the complicated human beings, whose personal history is really the only one that matters, behind the 'Balkan Crisis.'"

"Review"
by Claude Lalumière, January magazine,
"[U]nflinching....Atrocities abound in this chronicle. Reading it, I often found myself so sick to my stomach I could not continue....Sacco does not sensationalize these incidents. His depictions are restrained and matter-of-fact. Both his words and his drawings are kept simple and straightforward. Sacco respects the power of the material itself. He knows it needs no embellishment....This comics reportage of the Bosnian experience delivers to readers a perspective and texture no other journalistic form could have captured. The illusion of time and movement created by the sequential panels of comics gives the material an earthy immediacy that prose could never achieve as well....By choosing comics to tell this story, Sacco has allowed readers to experience Gorazde with a visceral reality no other medium can match."

"Review"
by The Utne Reader,
"Harrowing and bleakly humorous, Sacco's account of life during the Balkan conflict is a timeless portrait of ordinary people caught in desperate circumstances. It's also a work of genius in an unlikely genre."

"Review"
by Publishers Weekly,
"It is difficult to look away from and impossible to forget."

"Review"
by David Rieff, New York Times Book Review,
"Who would have imagined that the best dramatic evocation of the Bosnian catastrophe would turn out to be a book-length comic strip?...But Sacco's book not only has dramatic force. More crucially, it has the emblematic quality of a good historical or political novel."

"Review"
by Speak,
"Sacco can invest his stories with an incredible intensity that's simply impossible to capture with any other form."

"Synopsis"
by chrisb@powells.com,
A landmark work of New Journalism is now available in softcover.

Safe Area Gorazde is Joe Sacco's 240-page opus about the war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity, or running water.

The hardcover edition of Safe Area Gorazde put Sacco on the map as one of the pre-eminent journalists of his time, and the softcover edition will present his work to a wider audience. The book has been prominently featured in The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, Time, Utne Reader, Spin, The London Times, The Washington Post, Brill's Content, several NPR programs, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Economist, The Atlantic Monthly, and other media. The book also led to Sacco being named a recipient of a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Safe Area Gorazde features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for The Nation and Vanity Fair.

"Synopsis"
by Norton,
The winner of the 2001 Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Album. Sacco spent five months in Bosnia in 1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage, emerging with this astonishing first-person account.

"Synopsis"
by Norton,
Praised by , and , is the long-awaited and highly sought after 240-page look at war in the former Yugoslavia. Sacco (the critically-acclaimed author of ) spent five months in Bosnia in 1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories that are rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim-held enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war. Sacco lived for a month in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water. is Sacco's magnum opus and with it he is poised too become one of America's most noted journalists. The book features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens, political columnist for and .

"Synopsis"
by Hold All,
In the wake of his acclaimed Palestine, Joe Sacco spent four months in Bosnia in 1995-1996, immersing himself in the human side of life during wartime, researching stories rarely found in conventional news coverage. The book focuses on the Muslim enclave of Gorazde, which was besieged by Bosnian Serbs during the war; Sacco spent four weeks in Gorazde, entering before the Muslims trapped inside had access to the outside world, electricity or running water.

Released in 2000, Safe Area Gorazdeconfirmed Sacco as one of the preeminent journalists of his time, and earned him a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. Now for its 10th anniversary, Fantagraphics is releasing an expanded hardcover edition which, much like 2007’s Palestine: The Special Edition, supplements the original work with page after page of related drawings, on-site sketches, photographs, and transcripts from Sacco’s notes.

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